Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

MountainMan101

Beware of EnergyHelpLine not offering all the tariffs. I have a high winter electricity usage (electric flow boiler, 50units day) and low summer (10 units day). With EnergyHelpLine the best tarrif was £50 cheaper than my npower sign online. With Uswitch is gave me an EDF tarrif which is £140 cheaper.

So EnrgyHelpLine doesn't seem as up to date.

Premier_2

MountainMan101 wrote: »

Beware of EnergyHelpLine not offering all the tariffs. I have a high winter electricity usage (electric flow boiler, 50units day) and low summer (10 units day). With EnergyHelpLine the best tarrif was £50 cheaper than my npower sign online. With Uswitch is gave me an EDF tarrif which is £140 cheaper.

So EnrgyHelpLine doesn't seem as up to date.

What tariff did uSwitch offer that you think is not in the Energyhelpline database?

Differences can sometimes occur between comparison sites due to differing assumptions they make to calculate your consumption. This is especially true if you don't input your annual consumption in kWh.

I wouldn't accept one comparison site over another just because it gives you a claimed bigger saving. You should use some more and see if you can get a consistent result first.

NonGeographicalMan

MountainMan101 wrote: »

Beware of EnergyHelpLine not offering all the tariffs. I have a high winter electricity usage (electric flow boiler, 50units day) and low summer (10 units day). With EnergyHelpLine the best tarrif was £50 cheaper than my npower sign online. With Uswitch is gave me an EDF tarrif which is £140 cheaper.

So EnrgyHelpLine doesn't seem as up to date.

The reason for the above is that originally when first launched EDF Energy's Online v5 tariff was only available as a duel fuel product and EDF actively notified the energy comparison sites of the tariff launch and it being only dual fuel and it was correctly listed. Then later on EDF Energy decided to make the electricity rate aspect of Online v5 available as an electricty only tariff (normally electricity only customers end up paying considerably more as they do not get as low a rate as duel fuel customers with nearly all suppliers) but they seem to have done a very poor job of actively announcing the change.

As a result of this when I did a comparison for my mother (who only uses electricity and no gas and who was with Scottish Power Online Energy No Standing Charge) on uswitch, saveonyourbills, energyhelpline, whichswitch and energylinx in mid September I found that only energylinx.co.uk was listing the EDF Energy tariff. I actually thought energylinx was wrong at the time and were showing an out of date tariff so emailed them copying the other sites but energylinx came back very strongly confident that they were right and if I went to EDF Energy's own website I would find the tariff available for Electricity Only customers in the Southern electricity area and this was indeed true.

Since then uswitch, whichswitch and saveonyourbills have all corrected their websites to include this tariff and saveonyourbills have also corrected a more major glitch where no results at all were returned for my mother's postcode. The senior management executives of Uswitch and WhichSwitch both emailed me back assuring me that their sites had now been corrected. However my email to energyhelpline bounced so they are unaware they are wrong and so for over a month now have been giving those wanting an electricity only quote the wrong information in areas where EDF Energy Online v5 is available. So despite Martin Lewis's active support for EnergyHelpline as the best switching site it currently in fact seems to be doing by far the worst job.:eek:

The whole thing is a tawdry game as EDF Energy have a very nasty clause in their contract for Online v5 saying they can advise a price rise by posting it only on their website and also they actively withdraw Online v5 as a tariff next July and potentially dump customers off on to something much worse. All one can do is run a comparison every 3 months and switch suppliers when you find one that is cheaper and has a decent cashback. But to do that you also need to avoid like the plague tariffs such as Npowers where most of the headline price is only paid after completing 12 months, 24 months and so on as a customer with them. EDF Energy Online v5 has no strings at all in that regard.

harryhound

Woke up in front of the telly late last night, to see an advert about the EDF "eco" tariff.

I'm not sure how any company that is one of the largest producers of nuclear electricity can ever be "eco", but leaving that aside has anyone a link to an unbiased account of what they are trying to offer?

It sounded like an extended version of economy 7 to me.

mmillie

harryhound wrote: »

Woke up in front of the telly late last night, to see an advert about the EDF "eco" tariff.

I'm not sure how any company that is one of the largest producers of nuclear electricity can ever be "eco", but leaving that aside has anyone a link to an unbiased account of what they are trying to offer?

It sounded like an extended version of economy 7 to me.

In the UK, electricity from coal produces 891g CO2/kWh. Nuclear power in the UK produces 16g CO2/hWh. In that respect nuclear power is very environmentally friendly. For that very reason, it is what environmentalists are supporting it as one of the potential ways of cutting CO2 emissions.

Martin

NonGeographicalMan

harryhound wrote: »

I'm not sure how any company that is one of the largest producers of nuclear electricity can ever be "eco", but leaving that aside has anyone a link to an unbiased account of what they are trying to offer?.

Because Nuclear Energy is a lot greener than burning fossil fuels.

The tariff you mention is an expensive tariff designed to appeal to Guardian readers with plenty of money. You need EDF Energy's Online v5 tariff for cheap electricity.

Do a price comparison at www.energylinx.co.uk to see who is actually the cheapest for your current energy use.

harryhound

Even though every man woman and child using nuclear fuel will leave a lump of rock of high level waste ? Our children will have to guard that for hundreds of thousands of years?

mmillie

harryhound wrote: »

Even though every man woman and child using nuclear fuel will leave a lump of rock of high level waste ? Our children will have to guard that for hundreds of thousands of years?

That's a bit of an old fashioned view point now. That "waste" is increasingly being seen as a resource that we just didn't know how to use before. Of course, if we refuse the grasp the opportunities that will never happen, and the waste already in the ground will remain there.

Bark01

harryhound wrote: »

Woke up in front of the telly late last night, to see an advert about the EDF "eco" tariff.

I'm not sure how any company that is one of the largest producers of nuclear electricity can ever be "eco", but leaving that aside has anyone a link to an unbiased account of what they are trying to offer?

It sounded like an extended version of economy 7 to me.

Its ECO20:20 standard prices but with 20% off unit rates in the evening and all weekend. If you are on a core tariff (which I doubt many people are who use thsi forumn) then its a no brainer.

If you are not then you'll need to do the calculations yourself as it not on any comparisoon sites.

Its only worth while if you use a lot of energy in the evening and at the weekend.

plimsoll

Bark01 wrote: »

Its ECO20:20 standard prices but with 20% off unit rates in the evening and all weekend. If you are on a core tariff (which I doubt many people are who use thsi forumn) then its a no brainer.

If you are not then you'll need to do the calculations yourself as it not on any comparisoon sites.

Its only worth while if you use a lot of energy in the evening and at the weekend.

sounds interesting then, despite being a SAHM my washing machine mostly works evenings! still need to get off the pre-payment meters first tho!